The next morning, Rebecca slightly stirred as she woke up to feeling comfortably cramped between the couch and Charles. She smiled and nuzzled into him for a moment, taking in his scent as she felt her personal pillow, his chest, slowly rise up and down. Her eyes drifted open as she glanced around the room until she saw a shadow standing in front of them. Rebecca gasped and sprang to her feet as she moved her fingers in an intricate form as rocks from outside flew over to the window to catch the intruder by surprise. But at the last second, she stopped them and stared in disbelief, wondering if this was a dream or not.
"I guess staying away for a week really does change things"
"Hank?"
"In the flesh"
Rebecca let out a sigh as she dropped down her hands as the rocks fell down on the grass. Hank turned around and glanced outside nonchalantly at the rocks strewn over the yard. Charles moaned from the ground as Rebecca realized that when she brought herself up to her feet, she also pushed Charles down to the floor. She quickly knelt down next to him and gently picked him up and placed him on the couch.
"So, looks like we missed a lot" Chase said from sitting on the armchair on the side of the room.
Rebecca huffed before she smiled, "You guys are back early"
Hank glanced over to the cat who even looked in his direction before he said, "We said we'd be gone for a week… it's been a week"
"Has it really?" Charles asked.
"I'm not complaining" Chase spoke up, "Seems like the two of you have been busy getting to know each other"
"Nothing happened" Rebecca remarked.
"I didn't say anything happened" Hank replied.
Rebecca turned to him, "Not you, the cat"
Chase remarked, "I have a name, you know"
"How was your vacations?" Charles asked even though he still sounded half asleep.
"Great! I saw a bunch of interesting inventions, whether they would run for long term that would've been a different problem. About ¼ seemed to be able to do just that but still very amusing! I even jotted down a few ideas while I was there! I'm telling you, in the next four months, this mansion will start to look like it's from the future" Hank babbled on excitedly.
Chase huffed, "Like a kid on Christmas"
Rebecca gave a small smile, "That's great, Hank. Can't wait to see what you come up with"
"I better start putting my stuff away and get the lab ready" Hank said as he picked up his bags, "When's breakfast going to be ready? I'm starving!"
Chase moaned, "Not me… not ever again"
Rebecca turned to him, "I thought that you liked to eat"
"I did until the old woman kept feeding me like I was some homeless cat" Chase slowly got up, "I don't even think I got a good 22 hours sleep because of her waking me up to eat, she kept complaining that I was too skinny"
Rebecca smiled, "Well, in this house, you will get to eat whenever you're hungry and sleep for how long you want to sleep"
Chase gave a hint of a smile as he jumped down and slowly made his way out of the room, "Well, then, if you excuse me, I will be taking a nap until next Thursday"
Rebecca couldn't help but chuckle as she sat down on the couch next to Charles before she felt his hands wrap in hers. She glanced down to them for a moment before she looked up into his eyes as he traced circles on her hands. Her face probably looked smeared with makeup and hair a total mess but the boys never led on to how badly she looked.
"This doesn't change anything, right?" Charles asked before nodding his head over to the hall, "Hank and Chase being back, us barely finding our footing in the relationship"
Rebecca immediately shook her head, "Of course not! I would literally go insane if we went back to the way things were!"
"Good" Charles smiled to her before he yelled out, "Hank!"
"Yeah?"
"Since you left both me and Rebecca when we needed your help, we'd like you to return the favor" Charles told him.
From the top of the stairs, Hank furrowed his eyebrows as he didn't know what he was really getting himself into. He decided to take the bait as he bounded down the stairs and went to the doorway.
"Sure" Hank replied.
"Move Rebecca's stuff into my room" Charles told him.
Rebecca laughed as Hank gawked, "Are you serious?"
"Quite serious" Charles looked over to him.
"But shouldn't she do that?" Hank's cheeks turned crimson as he kept his head towards the ground, "She has some… feminine clothing that I'm sure she doesn't want me to touch"
Rebecca shook her head at him before she said, "He was just kidding, Hank, but you can start clearing out the attic for me"
Hank's shoulders dropped, "That's going to take forever!"
"So did cleaning out the rest of the dormitory section without you around" Rebecca commented.
Hanks nodded, "True, when do you want to get started?"
Rebecca let out a low hiss, "Actually… Charles and I were thinking about going into town to get ice-cream or something"
"What?!"
"That is what you wanted us to do in the first place, wasn't it?" Rebecca asked with a playful grin on her lips.
Hank suddenly realized what was going on as his punishment for leaving the two unattended was only going to begin now.
Hank grumbled, "How long is this going to be for?"
Charles and Rebecca looked to each other before they both replied, "About a week"
"I'm started to regret my decision" Hank mumbled as he turned with heavy steps and walked back up to the attic.
"Do you think we were too hard on him?" Rebecca whispered once he was out of sight.
Charles thought for a moment before he said, "We'll say we're sorry once the week is over, otherwise, he probably won't finish the job if we apologize now"
Rebecca giggled as she said, "Good idea"
